Snowstorm
by public static void
Summary: He had no reason to doubt Bellatrix, but he had no reason to believe her either. The Dark Lord could kill them if he agreed to spy on his most trusted servant, but Vincent couldn't say No to that delightfully cruel smile. For Eriamaude.


Snow fell lightly on the ground, making patterns as it danced its way down. Vincent never liked snow, or the cold for that matter. It was a pretty thing but not really something he enjoyed. As he got away from the frost-covered window, he thought about the summer nights and the rain he enjoyed so much. It was nothing like the endless white, blinding him in spite of not being sunshine. It was a strange thing, snow, and almost unnatural.

"What is the little crab doing here, I wonder? He can't swim in the snow."

Mad laughter followed the dumb joke, but Vincent smiled nonetheless. Bellatrix Lestrange was a dangerous woman, more so because of her madness.

"Bellatrix," he greeted.

They had gotten along well for such different people, and if Vincent had to guess it was because he could be as cruel as she was when the situation asked for it. Like the little rebellion yesterday, where she sent a tripping jinx at him to protect him from a dangerously near spell. She wasn't a good person, and she couldn't care less for him, but she cared for the mission their Lord gave them and Vincent was part of that.

"I like snow," she said suddenly. "Not like fire. Fire kills anything it touches in an instant, but snow lets them believe they can overcome it. Poor little plants will wither."

Her words were almost sung with that strange tone she always used. It used to annoy Vincent, but now he thought it endearing. The mad Bellatrix had an artsy side, he liked to think, because she sung sometimes and her curses always made her opponents dance.

"I hate it."

She smiled wickedly.

"Of course you would, crab."

For a while they didn't speak, she had her back to him and her eyes fixed on the window. The snow was falling harder.

"Was there something you needed?" Vincent finally asked.

He wanted to return to Hogwarts and see how his friends were holding. Being at Malfoy's home was not his idea of a good holiday, but the Common Room with its green shades and the music and laughter from Millie and Tracey and Pansy made it all better. He could almost forget there was a war going on, a war to protect his family and to receive justice for all the deeds done against them and their kind.

"You will have to watch Severus Snape," Bellatrix whispered.

Vincent perked up. "Professor Snape?"

She turned around, madness in her eyes. Vincent remained calm, knowing Bellatrix could use the fear in himself to torture him with only a smirk. He wouldn't let her know he feared her.

"He's a traitor. I'm sure, but our Lord won't listen."

"Perhaps he know Professor Snape won't betray the cause. He's been wronged in the same ways we have, and his family name should be the one pervailing."

"Snape?" Bellatrix snorted, though the insanity in her features didn't recede.

"Prince," Vincent stated. "He might not have the purest blood, not like us, but he has power and he could have prestige. He only needs the name. Professor Snape has no need to betray us because only the Dark Lord can give him what he wants."

"He doesn't believe in the cause," Bellatrix told him, leaning into his shoulder to whisper the words as if they were a secret. Vincent could see faint blue losing into a sea of molten pewter of her eyes; he never noticed Bellatrix could have beauty so pure in her. All he saw when he turned to look at her was the wild beauty of a thunderstorm and the power of a superior witch. "He wanted the dead muggleborn, and now he's protecting Potter because of her. I know it!"

He had no words for that, and thankfully Bellatrix walked away from him. He saw her hips sway as she neared the window again.

"You should go, Vincent Crabbe," she sung again. "Before the snowstorm falls harder and you have to stay in this boring place."

"The Dark Lord said you could go to Hogwarts too. Or to another place. Why do you stay here if you hate it so much?"

Bellatrix laughed again.

"Someone has to protect our Dark Lord if Snape tries something."

"And what would you have me do? You wouldn't tell me all this just because."

She focused her eyes on his, and for an instant the snow and the icy cold didn't matter because Vincent saw the victorious clouds on her eyes, preparing to make the rain of blood fall down on her enemies.

"If anyone can fool that old bat it might be the dumb boy he never cared for. Maybe that charade of stupidness will make him lower his guard. You could catch him, and then the Dark Lord would reward you."

Vincent thought about it. He tapped his fingers over his arm as he did, remembering all the times Professor Snape snorted and left him to ruin yet another potion because he had no time for people who had no academic value. Professor Snape thought him stupid, and maybe he could use that to spy on him, but why would he do it? He didn't think the professor, the Headmaster, would betray their cause.

"Why would I do it?" he asked Bellatrix. "If the Dark Lord trusts him I have no reason to doubt his word. What do you offer, Bellatrix?"

The smile on her face was something new. It yelled success in a way Vincent had never seen from her; her teeth were bared but it didn't strike him as a malicious smile.

"I offer my gratitude, Vincent." She jokes with her baby-like voice. Vincent hates it once again. "Wouldn't it be enough? I could kill you right now and you would suffer greatly. So why don't you accept and go and have my gratitude?"

Because she was insane, because he didn't trust her, because the Dark Lord would kill them more painfully than she could even think if it turned out that Snape was not a traitor. It was a long list of possibilities, but at the end the strange smile won.

"I'll do it, Bellatrix."

The cackle coming from her mouth was madder than anything else Vince had ever heard. Even the snow was not as unnatural as this, but in spite of himself he found the beauty in the madness.


End file.
